A little bit of Yarn Bombing..

The knitting went on the tree really well, Kate, Else and Gill turned up to help and Joyce my neighbour came along at the end to check out the tree she had made some gorgeous multicoloured bits to go on the tree.

I had sewn the main body of the tree ealier in the week and realising how much it stretched made it much smaller than the measurements I had, it worked really well.

Next we added some of the other squares and rectangles, as well as some of the bits I had previously sewn together. Arthur came along to help too.

I was glad Tony joined us, he was great at climbing the tree!  He has requested a knitted belt to hold his tools on the next yarn bomb :)

Well as usual the pictures have not gone exactly where i want them!

I love Cath's (aka snowbdrift) it of embroidery on her knitting it looks fab on the branch.

Arthur must be one of the youngest yarn bombers in the world..he really got stuck in and decided to decorate the tree with all the bits of yarn he had cut up.

Every one really enjoyed the sewing up, and apart from the teengae girls sat on the wall no one took any notice of us! 
It was lovely and calm as the tree got covered and the rain stayed off.
Else took lots of photos so i may be adding a few more on the next blog....I don't think I did much of the sewing on the tree by the look of it ;0
'Right lets get outa here'  Arthur practising for a quick get away ;) the next time we yarn bomb

we be in a better known spot, we do have some ideas for a winter yarn bomb which we talked about last year. This year I think the knitting group will feel a bit more confident that it can happen.  
I think it looks great, and will get a picture of it when the sun comes out, I am dying to know what Gillingham residents think.

I went to get Arthur a pizza after we finished and there was an absolute down pour!! We finished just in time.

A huge huge thankyou to all the ladies who helped with this, including Maria( aka Wonder woman not), Bridgette, Sandra, Roz, Alice (aka Ladypole on Ravelery), and Jo as well as the girls mentioned above and Tony and Arthur and all the other knitters who have helped over the last 3 months :)

Tree project count down!

Just a very quick update on the tree sock project.  Everyone was still busy knitting squares tonight and I did a bit of needlefelting graffiti, as above which will be sewn onto one of the branches.

I have got measurements for the tree, but when i laid out the knitting and measured it, I did not allow for stretch...and there is a lot of that :) So tommorow i will sew up some squares for the branches but only half the measurements, the rest will be sewn on while at the tree.
Which will be 5.30 Friday 10th July. Lots of knitting ladies meeting by the tree..Tony will also be joining us with a ladder.. I have volunteered him to do the higher branches! He is actually very good at sewing. I have watched him sew hems on his trousers.. I am pretty rubbish at sewing so he did not ask me to do it :)

I laid out some of the squares in the garden (lawn not looking good!) to get an idea of how it will look, the trunk is roughly 41 " .

Can't wait to see it on the tree, everyone has worked really hard, including the neighbours.

The Anonymous Traveling Market Visits Melton Abbas

This was only our second trip out with our little gazebo. I gave myself a lot more time to set up, and really should not have taken so much stock ,the shop was shut so when I was loading the van I kept taking things off the shelves. (which is not good, cause now I have to put it all back )

Arthur helped set up the gazebo by hammering all the pegs in..this started with Tony holding the pegs while Arthur hammered..ouch! not one of his best ideas :) Then we couldn't get the hammer back off Arthur (I know he's only three, but he did not start the day in a great mood!)
The setting was amazing, we looked out over an imaculate lawn to fields and woods. It was in the grounds of Melbury Abbey.  Tony and Arthur had a fab day, they went off and explored and went swimmimg in the pool, they even got a ride on a fire engine which went down to the village and back. I didn't see them again until it was time to pack up..so I had a very relaxed day!
It took a while to set up, but I feel much happier this time. It was a very good practice. Unfortunatly there were not that many customers.  The traveling market has some amazing stalls and excellent food stalls. The last one we did we were rushed off our feet, this one was a more private affair and the girls who run the market were not allowed to advertise it and were told there would be 600 people.

Ah well it was a very nice day, i did lots of chatting and quite a bit of knitting. I actually felt like i had a day off.
I feel a bit more confident about booking some more fairs now.  More established ones!

Am going to completely rearrange the shop tommorow while it is shut. After I have escaped for a bit :)

Lovely day for it..

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public day, which I knew way in advance but really only got organised last Thursday.  So we decided at short notice to sit outside my shop and knit. It was a gorgeous day.  I cast on my extreme knitting needles which I actually bought last year but have not really had a good enough excuse to use them since..they are not ideal for knitting on the sofa ;) or in my shop which is so packed full there is not even room to stand them up straight!
and she's off ha! it was a great fun knitting with them, i had cut up a few of my t-shirts the night before to make a giant ball to knit. This is going to be a strip to go on the knitted tree.
It knitted very quickly :) Bridgette (one of my angel knitters) and Maria (aka Wonder woman) joined me for the morning.
Then Roz and Alice (aka ladypole on Ravelry) joined me for the afternoon , Kate and Jill also came along for a bit of knitting so we were outside from 10-5pm which was really good going and we must have got enough knitting done to cover the trunk of the tree. Ha ra!

Arthur was very good and played by himself for most of the day..we had a lovely picnic by the river after i finished work so that made him happy.

I must just say a huge thanks to all the ladies that joined me, it was great to be out in the sun all day. 

 I may put my spinning wheel outside one sunny day soon at sit all day producing yarn, of course I do expect to get interrupted by customers :)

Knitting a tree sock project!

This is the start of quite a huge project, and being really organised (noooot!) we have only three weeks to complete it!

For the Gillingham Festival which starts on the 4th of July for two weeks, I suggested we cover the tree opposite the show ground with knitting, people have nodded and agreed but not really got any idea what i'm talking about (this happens alot he he ). I am on twitter and am following Knit City which is so inspiring and this is the sort of thing I hope to achieve hopefully with a little bit of help from fellow knitters.
Some of the knit and Natter group have donated knitted bits already as above, which is fantastic.  Tommorow 13th of June is World Wide Knit in Public Day and we are going to knit outside my shop...I am going to attempt knitting with my giant needles (should help the project along a bit!)  There will be lots of tea and coffee and Biscuits  to keep us all going.  If any of you would like to join us and knit a square you would be very welcome :) Also if any of you knitters out there have odd bits of knitting (ie tension squares) that you don't know what to do with we could add them to the pile..then there's going to be one huge sewing day. I did pick up an extreme sewing needle from Rachel John at Ally pally last year so that should make it a bit easier.
This is the tree..it is going to be so colourful!! The sign may need a bit of knitting to.

Tamsyn G on The road.

This is some of the Fabrics I was sorting to take to The Anonymous Travelling Market at Pyt House, actually these were the bits I didn't want to share :) Some lovely vintage fabrics that I will save for a day when the sewing machine comes out.  I sorted lots of other bits (two big boxes full!) into fat quarters and also sorted through my button stash and bagged up lots of buttons.

I was making things all week, lots more cupcake brooches and button bracelets., little heart brooches and mobile phone socks. So it was a bit of a manic week.
The Gazebo arrived on Thursday and i thought I would test setting it up.  Arthur came back from nursery and decided it should be a fruit stall, so out came his till all the fruit and george to be his customer.
It was great to be out on the road again, but I had really forgotton how much time you need to setup! we were right at the bottom of the garden, and I had loaded the van with hings in baskets and bags so that they could be put straight out.  This was not a good plan, and 2 hours later i was still trundling things down the garden using a borrowed wheelbarrow.  Then was asked to move the vehicles and that there was just 20 minutes left..which sent me into a panic attack, I  just felt like sitting on the floor saying ' I can't do it' and 'there's no way i will be ready' as people started to come in, (actually that is what i did in the end, then recovered quickly as people started shopping).  The next thing I knew it was 3 oclock  and I had not spoken to Kate (who was next to me selling lovely vintage bits) once, nor eaten and only managed to have one cup of coffee that a lovely friend got for me.

By the time we stopped all the food had sold out and people were packing up.  Though quite hungry i'd say that was the best result we could have hoped for.

The next time I go to a show the stock will be neatly stocked in 3 big boxes that fit on my sack trucks and I will have some sort of plan as to how the  stall will look.

The week in pictures.

I have been making these little button hearts to go on Folksy (the bottom one has already Sold :) and also for
a little craft market this Saturday called the Anonymous Travelling Market, it's going to be held at Pyt House Garden, which is a lovely pyo and has a gorgeous cafe. There is going to be food stalls as well as local crafts.  I have no idea how its going to go, and it will be the first time i have exhibited for a very long time.
It was lovely being able to work in the garden last week in the sun. 
Tony and george thought I had gone mad when these Bakelite furniture rests arrived, but I did have a plan for them..
Great for putting all the little beads in and also for people to use on my workshops for collecting the buttons and bits for making. They don't take up as much space as the little saucers i have been using.
It was a great week for barbeques and yummy salads in the garden.
George went to a 70's and 80's party and decided to go as a pacman...think he had got a little bit bored by the time it got to painting it :)  Arthur had to help him test it out.
Apparently it lasted about an hour at the party (as george had predicted) every one wanted a go in it till it completely fell apart.

Well I'm off to do some making with lots of other ladies as its Crafty Tuesday! Any one can join me round the table and bring whatever they are working on, knitting,crochet,sewing,beading etc. A lovely way to start the week :)